Of Close Calls and Near Reveals
by quicksilversquared
Summary: With both of Paris' superheroes in the same class, they're bound to have a few close calls with their secret identities. (In which oblivious dorks are oblivious)
1. Curtain Call

_A/N: So, I'm returning to my favored format of a series of (vaguely) connected one-shots along one theme for this story! Just as a heads-up now so that people don't get confused, there will be time/location jumps between each chapter. I plan on five chapters total for the story._

 _Thanks for reading!_

* * *

"It's so cool that we get to do a meet-and-greet with the actors here!" Nino exclaimed as the class settled down in their seats. "Did you ask about interviewing them, Alya?"

"Miss Bustier said that I would have to ask the actors. She said some might be fine with video, but it was more likely that I'll have to take notes, or maybe just do a voice recording, and that some of them might be too busy to answer any questions, especially questions from a student reporter." Alya still looked incredibly excited. Marinette knew that her friend had been brainstorming up a list of questions all week, even asking other students for suggestions. Her notebook with the questions written in her best handwriting was already in her lap, just in case she came up with more questions during the performance.

"I'm sure they'll take questions from you, Alya," Adrien said, leaning around Marinette to add to the conversation. His arm brushed up against Marinette's as he twisted around and Marinette suppressed a squeal. "After all, you're the famous reporter and owner of the Ladyblog! You're always getting exclusive interviews from Ladybug."

Marinette tried not to wince at that. She had kind of been hoping that no one was noticing how much she- well, Ladybug- favored Alya when giving interviews. Maybe they would write it off as Ladybug being more comfortable with someone her own age, someone who was better at respecting boundaries than many of the seasoned television and magazine reporters.

(Thankfully, Alya had never asked how Marinette had managed to set up an interview for her after the Mime's attack. Hopefully she never would.)

The teachers shushed them as the lights started to dim. Adrien settled back into his seat before leaning over to speak in Marinette's ear.

"Have you ever been to a live play before?"

Marinette nodded before realizing that Adrien might not be able to see her in the dark. "Yeah, my parents love plays. We can't always go because they need to keep the shop open, but sometimes a play is late enough or on one of the nights we close earlier and we can go." She turned to Adrien, nearly jumping out of her skin when she found him so close. "H-have you been before?"

"Occasionally." Adrien glanced behind them, where Madam Mendeleiev was giving them the evil eye. He lowered his voice and leaned in closer, his hair brushing against Marinette's face. "They've always been boring plays though, those philosophical adult plays. Good for naptime."

Marinette smothered her giggles with her hand. "Hopefully you'll enjoy this play more."

Adrien sent her a heart-stopping smile. "I'm sure I will."

* * *

The play _would_ have been flawless and incredibly enjoyable, if it weren't for Chloe. The spoiled girl spent the entire first half of the play whispering to Sabrina about "unfashionable costumes" and "stupid lines" and even pulling out her phone and browsing on it. More than one actor noticed it, it was obvious from their subtle glances. All of the students noticed when the manager approached Miss Bustier. They had a quiet argument, the whisper of their voices barely audible.

Still, it didn't take a genius to figure out what they were saying. Even if Chloe wasn't paying attention, she wasn't going to willingly leave. If anyone tried to escort her out, she would make a fuss and call her father just so she could stay in the theater.

Still, more than a few people were probably wishing that they could throw Chloe out on her tail.

Chloe flounced out as soon as intermission started, pushing other people aside so that she could be first to the bathroom. She dragged Sabrina out behind her, only to shove the other girl off in the direction of the concessions stand with some money and an order for what Chloe wanted.

"If I were management, I'd just try to lock her out," Nino commented as they watched Chloe leave, leaving a trail of grumbling people behind her. "She's a real nightmare. Surely her dad would understand that she's behaving inappropriately in a theater?"

Alya snorted. "He never cares when Chloe acts up at school, why would he care now? He'd probably just say the actors are paid to do their job and ignore the audience, and completely ignore that Chloe is ruining the experience for everyone else."

The rest of them nodded in agreement before their conversation veered away from Chloe and onto pleasanter subjects as they waited for the intermission to end. Adrien spent the entire fifteen minutes sitting sideways in his seat, one arm over the back of Marinette's chair and his knees centimeters from hers. Marinette was practically in heaven thanks to the proximity between her and Adrien and Alya sent more than a few knowing looks in their direction.

Much to everyone's disappointment, Chloe made it back into the theater with plenty of time left. Sabrina slunk back in behind her, avoiding eye contact with anybody.

"D'you think Sabrina ever gets embarrassed by Chloe?" Nino asked, watching as the girls got settled again, ignoring the evil eyes they were getting from the students and adults around them. "I mean, she can't be _completely_ oblivious to how other people feel about Chloe."

"She probably does," Adrien said. "I mean, she _did_ seem like she could be pulled away that one time when she and Chloe were doing a project with Mari. I think she _knows_ that friends aren't supposed to be like that, but..."

The lights dimmed, cutting off any further conversation. There were a few moments of silence, broken only by some quiet rustling in the audience and on stage, and then the play restarted.

Twenty minutes into the second half, some of the actors were starting to have more trouble masking their displeasure. There were more and more unscripted glares into the audience. Twenty-five minutes into the second half, an actor finally got fed up and jumped offstage instead of exiting. He made a beeline to Chloe and ripped the phone out of her hand, chucking away from them. The entire theater could hear the _crack_ as it landed, screen probably smashed to pieces.

"HEY!" Chloe yelled, effectively bringing the play to a halt as the eyes of everyone in the audience and on stage were drawn to her. "What do you think you're doing? That phone was expensive, idiot!"

"Use of cell phones in the theater is strictly prohibited," the actor snapped back. " _Talking_ during the performance is strictly prohibited. You are distracting the actors and disrupting the performance. If you can't follow the rules, get out."

"Oh boy," Alya muttered. "Here we go."

"Don't you know who my father is?" Chloe demanded, shooting up to her full height and planting her fists on her hips. "You can't just treat me like _anyone_. You're the one being rude."

The actor scowled. "The rules apply to everyone. I don't particularly care who your father is or isn't. Clearly he hasn't raised you right if you think _this_ is appropriate behavior at a play."

Chloe gasped, furious. "How dare you! I'll have you know that my daddy is the mayor of Paris-"

"Thank you for letting me know who I _shouldn't_ be voting for in the next election, then. If he can't raise a kid right, then I have my doubts about his ability to run a city." The actor was impressively composed. Not a flicker of surprise had crossed his face at Chloe's proclamation.

" _Buuuuurn,_ " Alya sang quietly. She was grinning broadly. "Oh, I wish I could have recorded that!"

The manager was hurrying down the aisle, looking distressed as Chloe stomped her foot, glaring at the much taller actor. "How dare you! I'll have my daddy rip away all the funding for this stupid place for treating me like this!"

The actor didn't look particularly perturbed. "Well, you can tell your daddy that-"

"Arnold! Enough!" the manager hissed, finally reaching the arguing pair and pulling the actor away from Chloe. "Just drop it, ignore her, and get back on stage! It's not worth it."

Arnold snarled one more time at Chloe before stalking away. The manager returned Chloe's phone to her with an apology and a promise to pay for the screen repair before waving at the actors on stage to continue with the act.

Two minutes later, the whole theater shook. The play ground to a halt once again as everyone froze.

"Akuma," Alya whispered excitedly as the ground shook again and a couple screams sounded from the hallway. She tugged her phone out of her pocket. "That's so cool!"

Marinette bit back a sigh. _Cool?_ Hardly. Disastrous, maybe. Time-consuming. Exasperating. She had been enjoying watching the play with Adrien at her side, even if Chloe had been making it less than an optimal performance.

"I am the Actor!" a voice boomed, rattling the walls as a figure clad in what looked like a velvet robe swept into the room. Glowing eyes glared out from behind a theatrical mask. "And you will not interrupt my performance!"

Adrien and Marinette both let out exasperated groans as panic spread throughout the theater. The actors onstage were the first to vanish, since their path backstage was unhindered. The audience, however, was not so lucky. The auditorium was packed and with the akuma blocking one exit, there was only one other main exit plus two smaller emergency exits. The light techs had already fled from their box, leaving the auditorium in the same dimly lit state it had been in during the performance. The aisles became congested within moments as people pushed and shoved to get out of the way of the rampaging akuma. Making matters even worse, the Actor was freezing people with a hit from the crop he carried. It had to have the akuma, Marinette was positive. The actor Arnold's character had been carrying a crop and he had been clutching it as he stormed out of the theater.

"Alya, don't you _dare_ get any closer!" Nino's hiss yanked Marinette abruptly out of planning mode. Nino reached out for Alya's arm, his fingers snagging her sleeve. Alya scowled and pulled her arm away. "You'll get frozen, and then how will you get any footage?"

"You can go back by the emergency exit and film from there," Adrien suggested, catching Alya's arm before she could bolt. "That exit isn't blocked, and you could get out fast if the akuma gets too close."

Alya opened her mouth to argue, but Adrien didn't let her. Tightening his hold on her arm, he pulled her down the aisle and up the stairs, away from the akuma and against the flow of people. From where she stood, Marinette could almost see people catching on to where Alya and Adrien were going. Almost as one, the crowd turned and headed for the back of the theater.

Marinette let herself get caught up in the sweep of people rushing for the exit. She lost sight of her friends quickly, which didn't bother her at all. It would make getting away and transforming that much easier if she didn't have to come up with some half-baked excuse. They would get out, she was sure of it.

Well, Adrien and Nino would. Alya would probably circle back around to get Ladyblog footage.

The hallways were utter chaos. Most people were streaming for the building's exits, which made it difficult for Marinette to fight her way to the edge of the crowd and back into an less crowded hallway. The fact that she didn't know the floor plan of the theater made it difficult to come up with a place that might work for transforming. The hallways, even the smaller ones, still had people running through them. When Marinette stuck her head into a bathroom, she found it full of people hiding from the akuma. Transforming in a closet had the same problem as transforming in a hallway: there were too many people who could see her going into the closet and Ladybug going out.

If Alya hadn't been filming in the auditorium, she would have considered diving between two rows and transforming there. It was dark enough and panicky enough that people probably wouldn't have even noticed.

Marinette pounded down another short set of stairs, weaving around people going in the opposite direction. It took a moment for her to realize that the people she was passing weren't just any people. They were actors.

And just like that, her mind lit up.

Everyone was too panicked to notice Marinette sneaking behind racks of clothing to the stage doors. Opening the door just a crack, she slipped backstage.

The auditorium was still chaos. Statues were everywhere, clogging the aisles and exits. The back exit was clearly blocked off now. People hid behind chairs and under knocked-over statues as the Actor raged on, still looking for Chloe.

Marinette hoped that Alya had had the common sense to get out before all of the exits were blocked. Something told her that that probably wasn't the case.

Carefully picking her way forward so that she wouldn't be seen by either Ladyblogger or akuma, Marinette ducked behind the theater screen. She carefully backed up once she was hidden behind the heavy fabric, hoping that she wouldn't trip over anything. Even with all of the noise the Actor was making, the clatter from tripping over the mess of cords and equipment would inevitably draw unwanted attention.

Once she was about halfway behind the curtain and definitely hidden from view, Marinette opened her purse and peered inside. Tikki was finishing off a cookie, crumbs decorating her red face as she shoved the rest in her mouth. She beamed up at Marinette as she dusted off the crumbs. "I'm ready!"

"Good," Marinette breathed, before straightening up and crying, "Tikki, transform me!"

* * *

Adrien had lost track of Nino and Marinette quickly after he paused to try to persuade Alya to leave the auditorium. His other friends had managed to get out the back exit, he was sure. They were safe.

He, on the other hand, was stuck.

The Actor had started towards the emergency exit as soon as he noticed the stream of people trying to leave that way. Adrien dove into a row before he could get within hitting distance, leaving him safe but without an exit. He was too close to Alya to be able to transform, and in the dimly-lit room, he had no way of knowing whether or not her camera (or the camera of anyone else in the audience) was pointed at him. Besides, he also didn't know if the frozen people could still see. It wasn't something he wanted to risk.

He had to move. There was no way of knowing how soon Ladybug might arrive, so he had to get out of his current hiding spot and find somewhere to transform. Mind racing, Adrien surveyed the theater. The audience exits were all blocked, but the stage exits weren't. A couple other people had also headed that way, slinking forward until they could get onto the stage and run.

 _Perfect._

Shoving a bit of Camembert in his pocket for Plagg, Adrien took one last glance at the Actor to make sure he was sufficiently far enough away and distracted before half-jumping, half-climbing over the rows of seats. He was making more of a clatter than he would have liked, but the continuing screams both in the auditorium and the hallway helped hide his noise. Once he got going, it didn't take long for Adrien to reach the stage.

Climbing up on the stage was the difficult part. Adrien took a running jump, scrabbling for a handhold so he could pull himself up the rest of the way. His knee smacked painfully against the side of the stage, but he ignored it. It would bruise, but it wasn't like Adrien was going to be doing any photoshoots with shorts anytime soon.

Once he got onto the stage, Adrien bolted. If the Actor hadn't already heard him climbing over the seats, there was no way that he had managed to also miss the sound of Adrien's knees hitting the wooden stage. Adrien wove between stage props, his eyes trained on the curtains at the back of the stage. When he got to the last bit of scenery between him and the curtain, he paused to make sure that the Actor's back was turned. As soon as he was positive that the akuma was distracted, Adrien darted from his hiding spot to the dark space between the wall and screen. He turned around to back in, making sure that no one had followed him onstage and behind the curtain. The last thing he wanted to do was transform in front of someone and reveal his identity.

Slowly, Adrien picked his way back, squinting at his feet to make sure he wouldn't trip. Once he was sure he was far from prying eyes, he tugged Plagg out. The small black kwami floated up in front of Adrien's face, grinning about something as his eyes flicked between Adrien and the space behind him. Adrien didn't take the time to wonder what Plagg had found so amusing before he thrust his hand out with a cry of " _Plagg, transform me!"_

At the same time, right behind him, came a higher cry of " _Tikki, transform me!_ "

As the twin flashes of light lit up the cramped space, the two superpowered teens jumped and spun around in shock, eyes wide. Their outfits settled into place just in time, the last of the light dying down just as they faced each other. Both blinked in shock to find their partner only centimeters away.

"I didn't see anything," Chat Noir said immediately, taking a step back to give Ladybug her space even as his heart raced from the shock of finding her so close. "I promise."

"Me neither." Ladybug looked just as startled as he felt. At least she could pull off the deer-in-the-headlights expression well. "Well, should we?"

"Of course. Lead the way, my Lady."


	2. Kwami Spotted: Part 1

"This isn't what it looks like," Marinette blurted after exactly twenty-two seconds of deer-in-the-headlights staring after Adrien burst into the boy's bathroom and found her standing in the middle of the floor.

He could only blink at her. "...so why are you here, then?"

This was not what Adrien had expected to find when he dashed into the bathroom to transform. Mr. Damocles had been turned into an akuma after being threatened and pushed around by Chloe and her father one too many times (Adrien was going to have Nathalie look up the laws surrounding who was in charge of school funding and how much control the mayor actually had as soon as this was over) and he was rampaging around the school, predictably targeting Chloe (who had bolted for the door the second she had heard her name being called). Adrien had to transform and get out there, preferably before Mr. Damocles- or, rather, The Principal- managed to get his hands on Chloe.

Still, he wasn't going to be rude to Marinette, even if he desperately needed to transform. He was also at least a _little_ curious about how in the world she had ended up in the boys' bathrooms in the middle of an akuma attack.

Marinette was twisting her fingers together anxiously as she looked at everything except Adrien. It reminded him of her old behavior around him amplified by a thousand. "I'm here because of the, uh, akuma! I heard him coming and I figured he probably wouldn't come into the bathrooms, but I panicked and ran into the wrong ones, so... ta-da?" Marinette offered weakly. She grimaced, as though she knew how strange her behavior was coming off.

Adrien blinked at Marinette in slight confusion. She seemed a _bit_ twitchy, which made him suspect that she _might_ not be telling the truth. Still, maybe it was just because he had caught her mistake. Besides, it wasn't like it was the first time Marinette had gotten flustered about something and gotten the bathrooms mixed up. At least this time there hadn't been anyone using the bathrooms when she accidentally barged in.

"That...okay," Adrien managed, still a bit thrown off. Maybe he was just on edge because if he had been paying even just a little less attention, he very easily could have transformed right in front of his friend without realizing it. Maybe he was just projecting his own twitchiness on Marinette. Maybe he was just misreading things because there was an akuma _right outside the bathroom_ and he hadn't transformed yet and the adrenaline was scrambling his brains.

Plagg squirmed in his jacket, clearly as anxious as Adrien himself was to transform. The last time an akuma had attacked, Adrien had gotten caught before he transformed and they both had to spend the entire fight as an ice sculpture in the school hallways, unable to do anything until Ladybug saved the day and freed everyone. Needless to say, they both wanted to avoid that outcome again. Being an ice sculpture was no fun.

Adrien patted Plagg to try to get him to stay still, glad that the kwami had broken out of the habit of flying out of his shirt the moment they rounded the corner after few too many close calls. _That_ would have been hard to explain to Marinette.

"At least no one was in here," Adrien offered when Marinette didn't say anything more. If it weren't for the Principal still ranging throughout the school, he would probably suggest that Marinette go hide in her own bathroom. Still, he wasn't going to do that to one of his friends. He could wait until the Principal moved far enough away from them both to get out of the bathroom safely.

...that was a sentence he _never_ thought he would say when he made the decision to go to public school.

They stood in the middle of the bathroom for a too-long minute, not sure what else to say. Adrien briefly considered pretending that he actually had to use the bathroom before shutting the idea down. He still wouldn't be able to transform in the stall without his secret identity being a dead giveaway. At best, Marinette would decide that being in the same room was too awkward and make a run for the girls' side, risking her safety as she did. It was more likely that she would stay- and probably cover her ears and hum really loudly until he was out of the stall.

 _That_ would just make things even more awkward.

As Adrien debated on what he should do (he didn't want to endanger Marinette because she was his friend, but he _had_ to transform soon), a flash of red behind Marinette caught his eye. He looked over in time to see the red vanish, like something had been peering over Marinette's shoulder at him.

Frowning, Adrien scooted closer and tried to catch sight of the red _thing_ again. He was positive his eyes weren't paying a trick on him, but he wanted to be sure. Besides, he occasionally ran around as a cat. Cats were naturally curious. "What was that?"

Marinette froze, eyes going impossibly wide as she caught the direction of his gaze. Her voice went high and panicked. "Nothing!"

"There was something, I'm sure." Adrien stepped forward again, craning his neck. There had been something there, he was positive. As he moved forward again, Marinette took three quick steps back.

"There's nothing there!" she insisted. She shot a slightly panicked-looking look over her shoulder before turning back to Adrien with a slightly maniacal and strained grin as she shoved her hip purse behind her. Her smile looked like it was bordering on painful. "Nothing there! Not at all!"

Adrien frowned. Even for Marinette, this kind of behavior was _strange_. If there wasn't anything there, why look so panicked? Why not just step aside and let him look? He was about to say something else when the akuma decided to make himself known once more.

"YOU WILL _NOT_ TELL ME HOW TO DO MY JOB!" the Principal roared right outside the door, making it rattle. Adrien and Marinette both jumped and froze before turning to stare at the door. The akuma sounded uncomfortably close. "I WILL NOT BE PUSHED AROUND!"

"We have to hide," Adrien gasped, backing up as the thundering footsteps got even closer. He grabbed a spluttering Marinette and yanked her behind him as he dove into a bathroom stall and shut the door. He clicked the lock shut, knowing full well it wouldn't do anything against an angry akuma. Once they were both in the stall, Adrien realized how stupid of a move that had been. There was no way he could transform now, not with Marinette _right there_ and staring at him like he had grown an extra head.

In hindsight, he probably should have pushed her into her own stall. Even though their school was a fairly nice place, collège bathroom stalls simply weren't that large and they ended up standing toe-to-toe despite the fact they both had pretty slender frames.

Besides, there was no missing the fact that they were sharing a toilet stall.

 _Awkward_.

Marinette's cheeks were bright pink as she looked anywhere _except_ at Adrien. Adrien himself was trying not to look at Marinette too much. Instead, he closed his eyes and listened for any sign of the Principal. The akuma hadn't entered the bathroom (probably because the chances of Chloe ever being found in the boys' bathroom was miniscule), but it probably wouldn't take long for the akuma to start going after other people. Other troublemakers, most likely.

And, after nearly a year of public schooling, Adrien knew full well that the troublemaking, class-skipping students were quite often found in the bathrooms.

"It's gonna look weird to have two people in the stall," Marinette breathed as the Principal let out another roar outside the bathroom. The door rattled on its hinges.

Adrien let out a quiet curse as he realized that Marinette was right. The bathroom's stall doors were just high enough that it was easy to see feet under them. On a normal day, that was incredibly helpful since the doors hung shut even when the stall was empty and if you couldn't see people's feet, there was no way to tell if the stall was busy or not. Now it worked against them.

"You could stand on the toilet seat," Adrien suggested after a long pause. He'd do it himself, but it would look weird to have Marinette's very pink shoes sticking out of the bottom of a boy's bathroom stall. "Then your feet are off the floor."

Marinette nodded in understanding, and they quickly shuffled around so Marinette could clamber up. Adrien offered his hand to her so she wouldn't slip and fall on the slick surface of the toilet seat. She held on tightly as she maneuvered so that she would be facing Adrien and the stall door instead of the wall. As soon as she was in place, Adrien spotted another problem.

"The Principal would probably be able to see your head over the top of the stall," Adrien said, frowning. He hadn't thought about that, mostly because he hadn't had any experience with climbing on toilets to escape detection himself. He had gotten the idea from a movie he had seen earlier in the year with Plagg. Besides, Marinette was pretty short. Being seen over the top of bathroom stalls probably (definitely) wasn't a regular problem for her. "You'll have to crouch down or something so the Principal won't see you."

"If I move, I'm gonna slip!" Marinette complained, even as she bent her knees slightly so she wouldn't be quite so tall. She made a face down at him. "And I don't think I clear the top of the stall. If I were a couple centimeters taller I might."

Adrien tightened his grasp on her hands. He didn't want to let her slip, partly because he'd feel bad about letting her fall and partly because it would make a lot of noise and the Principal would probably come investigate. "The Principal is pretty big. I think he's even taller than Mr. Damocles normally is. He can probably see over the tops of the stalls and if you're too high..."

Marinette's eyes widened and she crouched down another unsteady centimeter. Her grip on Adrien's hands tightened almost painfully. "You think he grew that much? Really? Most akumas don't grow at all- I mean, not that I can tell! I usually try to stay away so-"

Another roar outside cut off the rest of whatever Marinette was going to say. She jolted in surprise and the next moment had them scrambling to make sure she wouldn't fall. Adrien caught Marinette's elbows as she pressed her hands against the sides of the stall. He managed to maneuver her so she was braced with her back against the back of the stall.

"It feels like my feet are going to fly out from under me at any second," Marinette muttered. Her hands were almost white from the amount of pressure she was putting on them.

"I'll catch you," Adrien replied almost automatically. His mind was flying as he tried to make sure that their current position would read as completely normal from outside the stall. Marinette was now low enough that only a giant the size of Stoneheart or the Horrificator (at her very largest) would be able to see her from outside. If the akuma glanced under the stall door, he would see exactly one pair of legs facing in the right direction. For all intents and purposes, it would seem like there was just someone taking a normal bathroom break in the middle of an akuma attack.

...wait.

"People don't actually use the bathroom during akuma attacks," Adrien said out loud, a bit dumbfounded at how long it had taken for him to remember that. Sure, people hid in the bathrooms when they had to, but they were a dead end. If their exit got blocked, they were trapped. Most people tried to run for the doors if they could.

Nobody would just up and decide to use the bathroom while an akuma raged only meters away.

Marinette made a bit of a face. "Please don't tell me you're going to join me on top of the toilet seat. I don't think there's space."

"It would probably be better if it looked like nobody was in the bathroom at all." Still, Adrien hesitated. There wasn't really any space for him to stand and if _Marinette_ hadn't been able to stand on the seat without risking being seen from outside the stall, there was no way he could do it. He was _really_ wishing that he had found somewhere else to transform now. "What if- okay, if you press against that side of the stall and I press against the other, maybe we could brace ourselves against each other."

"Or maybe we'll slip and fall into the toilet," Marinette muttered. Still, she slowly started to straighten up so that she could turn in the direction Adrien had indicated. One hand flew off the wall and latched onto Adrien's shoulder as she steadied herself.

Adrien winced. Marinette had one _hell_ of a tight grip.

For the next five minutes, all of their focus was on maneuvering on top of the toilet seat so both of them would fit. Adrien's shoes had a better grip than Marinette's, which made things a little easier.

Still, getting wedged into place was _hard._ Finally they managed it, and it wasn't _that_ awkward, if he ignored the fact that Marinette was practically sitting in his lap. She was avoiding his eyes, though, which made Adrien nervous. Was he making her uncomfortable? He probably was, because honestly, most people weren't used to having someone else all up in their personal space, especially not in a bathroom stall.

As Adrien cringed and shuffled uncomfortably on the seat (he couldn't mess up their friendship again, Marinette had only _just_ gotten comfortable with him), he realized how quiet things had gotten.

Come to think about it, it had been quiet for quite a while now. While they had been maneuvering into position, they hadn't been startled by any yells from the akuma. That was definitely a good thing, since any surprises during that time would have inevitably ended with both of them sprawled on the floor (or, even worse, on the toilet seat), limbs in a tangled knot and elbows probably in some not-so-great places.

"I think the Principal is gone," Marinette whispered. She glanced towards the door. Her body twisted slightly as she turned, reducing the pressure she was exerting on the wall.

In that second, Marinette slid down the wall with a yelp. She squeaked to a halt only centimeters before she rammed into Adrien. Adrien, reacting to her yelp and slide, let his hands fly up to try to catch Marinette without thinking about it, momentarily forgetting his own precarious position.

Naturally, Adrien slid as well. One leg hit the toilet seat and threw him off-balance. The next thing he knew, he was on his hands and knees on the floor.

 _Ew._ He would definitely have to wash his hands and throw all of his clothes in the laundry the moment he got home.

"Oh my god are you okay?" Marinette asked. A moment later she yelped. There was a squeak as rubber slid against metal (Marinette had apparently lost her grip as well) before a heavy weight hit Adrien's back. A pink shoe zipped in and out of Adrien's field of view before Marinette hit the floor next to him with a thud and a curse. A moment later, something roundish and red rolled past Adrien's head. He perked up- _aha!_ He _knew_ he had seen something red behind Marinette- but it vanished out of sight behind the toilet before Adrien could get a good look at it.

"Are you okay?" Adrien asked, pushing himself up off the (really weird-smelling) floor. He craned his neck, trying to see the red thing again, and then quit when the craning brought his face a little too close for comfort to the toilet seat. Instead, he turned around to look at Marinette. She was sitting up and wincing as she rolled one of her shoulders. Adrien guessed that she had probably landed on it or maybe hit it on the toilet seat.

He had never really considered how _hard_ a toilet seat was before. In all honesty, it was something he could have gone his entire life without thinking about.

"I'm fine," Marinette responded. She glanced in her purse and her eyes got huge. "But I, uh, dropped something! Hold on a second, I have to look-"

"What did you drop?" Adrien asked, trying to keep the curiosity out of his voice. Maybe he could get an answer to what the red thing was while Marinette was distracted. "I could help you look."

Marinette squeaked. "Oh no, that's fine, please don't- I mean, that's very kind of you to offer, but no, I can find it myself and- oh! Right! I found it thanks for helping-" In a flash, Marinette lunged over Adrien and grabbed something from behind the toilet. Adrien caught the flash of red between her fingers before she stuffed the whatever-it-was in the purse that hung by her side and zipped it up. She then bounded to her feet and backed towards the stall door, fumbling with the latch. "I think I'll go now while the akuma is gone! Bye!"

"Bye...?" Adrien said to an empty room as the bathroom door squeaked open and slammed shut as Marinette left. Adrien gave himself a good shake and stood up, striding straight for the sinks to wash his hands. "Plagg, are you ready?"

Plagg stuck his head out of Adrien's jacket, scowling. "You smashed my cheese when you fell!"

"Sorry, sorry." Yet _another_ reason why he was tossing these clothes in the wash the second he got home. Smashed Camembert cheese was near-impossible to get out of fabric and it smelled awful besides.

"You'd better be sorry." Plagg floated grumpily out of Adrien's pocket and under the stream of water in the sink, washing off the Camembert that had gotten plastered over his whiskers. "Are we transforming or not?"

Moments later, Chat Noir darted out of the boy's bathroom and sprinted towards the roars and screams coming from the akuma's general vicinity. He was late, he knew he was, but he hadn't had a choice. He was just lucky that the Principal hadn't gotten him and Marinette and that he hadn't accidentally transformed right in front of his friend.

Chat Noir was so relieved, in fact, that he completely failed to notice how out of breath Ladybug was when she appeared beside him, that she had come from the same direction he had, and that she was favoring the same shoulder Marinette had injured.


	3. Kwami Spotted: Part 2

_A/N: Sorry for the delay! I meant to post this nearly a week ago, but my job went up from about 7 hours/night to nearly 13 (and then finished yesterday, with a very exhausting 19-hour shift) and my computer couldn't connect to the internet there._

* * *

"He's my, uh, pet cat."

Marinette stared, her wide-eyed gaze flashing back and forth between Adrien and Plagg. Adrien sent a quick glare in his kwami's direction and Plagg let out an entirely unconvincing _meow_ from where he lay half-hidden from Adrien's startled classmate.

Marinette's expression didn't change, and Adrien's stomach dropped as he scrambled for anything he could say to salvage the situation.

* * *

It would have been very, very easy to avoid this whole mess in the first place. Adrien had known perfectly well that Marinette was going to be coming over soon so that they could finish up their project and so he could help her with the Physics homework. It had been getting extremely close to the time they were supposed to be meeting and yet Plagg and Adrien carried on their conversation, tossing barbs back and forth as Adrien perused the Ladyblog's archives, reading the articles Alya had written up after the latest slew of attacks.

Somehow, both of them had missed the sound of Nathalie calling him and crossing the entrance hall to open the main door, and then the footsteps approaching Adrien's room followed by the door itself opening. It wasn't until Marinette let out a gasp that either of them noticed that they weren't alone in the room. Plagg had immediately dropped from mid-air to the back of Adrien's chair, but it was too late to hide. Marinette's eyes were locked on the small kwami as her mouth hung open.

Adrien absently wondered if she was even blinking.

"That's not a cat," Marinette finally responded, eyes still on Plagg even as he edged more and more out of sight. "He was _floating_."

"He was just in the middle of a jump?" Adrien offered weakly. Plagg _meow_ -ed again. It really didn't sound all that convincing. "And he's a special breed of cat known for their jumping. They can jump, uh, really well."

He could have facepalmed. _Really, Adrien? A breed of cat known for their jumping can jump really well? You don't say._ If it wouldn't get them even more in trouble, Plagg probably would be taunting him about his scramble of words. He'd probably get an earful about that later.

Marinette's eyes flicked over to Adrien for a second, long enough for Plagg to slip out of sight completely. She didn't look particularly convinced.

...if he were being honest with himself, Adrien really couldn't blame her. Even with his ears and tail, Plagg did not look particularly catlike. It made him wonder how in the world the old man who had healed Plagg had ever accepted the excuse.

(Bad eyesight, maybe?)

"He's a very strong jumper for such a small cat," Adrien blurted in a hurry when Marinette didn't respond. If she wasn't going to say anything, he might as well dig his grave deeper. He glanced around as covertly as possible (read: _not very_ ) and pounced on the towel that he had left sitting on his table after his most recent shower. Thinking fast, he scooped Plagg into the towel and buried the little kwami in it. Suddenly helpful, Plagg let out another muffled _meow._ "And I just washed him, so he looks a little weirder than normal at the moment."

That sounded plausible, right? It also gave him a very convenient excuse to have Plagg hidden, and then he could hide the kwami where Marinette wouldn't be able to see him.

"You actually have a cat, then?" Marinette asked as Adrien made a break for it up his stairs with the bundle of Plagg (and, if his nose was serving him correctly, some cheese Plagg had managed to snag. Fantastic.). "Aren't you supposed to dry cats completely so they don't get sick?"

Adrien winced as he set the bundle down where Marinette wouldn't see it. Was that really what cat owners had to do? He had no clue. Still, he was too far in now to back out. "He's a stray that stops by every now and then that I sometimes take care of. But he hates the hairdryer, so I just dry him as much as possible and then he just air dries the rest of the way."

 _Please buy that and drop the topic. Please, please, please-_

No such luck. Marinette was craning her neck to try to see up onto the second level as Adrien hurried down the stairs. "You aren't going to keep him with you? I'm sure he wouldn't interrupt our project."

"He's a bit shy."

Marinette finally looked away from where Adrien had shoved Plagg. Adrien breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, I know a lot of cats like that. My grandma's cats all hate strangers." She smiled at him before glancing around his room, making Adrien freeze.

He hadn't cleaned his room before Marinette came. What if there was something strange out of place? What if she noticed his distinct lack of cat-care stuff? He had said that Plagg was a stray, but _still_. Shouldn't he at least have a litter box or something?

"Haha, yep, that's my cat exactly. Hates strangers." Adrien pasted the fakest grin ever onto his face as he glanced around the room, trying to see if there was anything else in the room that stuck out as immediately strange. Plagg hadn't left cheese wrappers all over, had he? Was there any way he might be able to duck into the bathroom and throw together a makeshift kitty litter box? "He might have gotten abused as a kitten or something. He's a bit misshapen."

An immediate, resentful _"Hey!"_ floated down the stairs. Adrien tried to cough to cover it up. Somehow he suspected that he hadn't succeeded, if Marinette's alarmed glance upwards was anything to go by.

"He meows a bit strangely sometimes, too," Adrien added through clenched teeth. _Really, Plagg? Can't it wait?_ "Something to do with his vocal cords, I think. He's still good company."

Thankfully Plagg stayed silent this time. If he hadn't, Adrien would have put him on a strict bottled-cheese diet for a week, like he had been threatening to do for ages.

"For a moment there, I could have sworn that was..." Marinette shook herself, seemingly shaking off whatever idea had been in her mind as she looked away from the stairs and back at Adrien. "Crazy thought. You'd never- never mind. Anyway, do you want to get started on the project?"

"Yeah, of course!" Adrien fumbled to bring up their work so far as fast as he could, eager to distract Marinette and hopefully get her to forget Plagg's presence. As she pulled a chair up, a thought came to Adrien's mind that made him pause.

Only Miraculous holders knew what kwami looked like and what they meant. Marinette had almost seemed like she maybe had recognized Plagg as something other than a cat, and maybe not just because a floating, misshapen cat was weird beyond belief.

 _So just what had Marinette thought Plagg was?_

* * *

Adrien stayed on edge throughout their study session. Marinette had apparently dropped the topic of Adrien's supposed cat, but Adrien himself couldn't let it drop completely. Marinette seemed to know a fair amount of caring about cats, so it would probably look weird if he didn't go and take care of his "wet cat".

And on top of that, Adrien kept finding Plagg's things scattered around the room. A whole wheel of Camembert sat at the bottom of an otherwise-empty garbage can, where Plagg had been lounging earlier in the day. A cheese wrapper sat on his TV table. The receipt for the last week's cheese order was sitting on the couch, and while that might not have been weird by itself, nearly 40 euro of Camembert cheese was _weird._

Grinning through a grimace, Adrien inconspicuously tossed a couple old papers into the trash can on top of the cheese, hiding the container but not doing a whole lot to mask the smell. He cleared the cheese wrapper and the receipt into another trash can, tossing in another couple papers to cover up the other cheese wrappers filling the can. He jetted back to his computer quickly, hoping that Marinette hadn't noticed anything amiss.

She hadn't. Instead, Marinette had found the tabs on the Ladyblog that he had forgotten to close. She was perusing them with an odd look on her face, almost like she was a little bit amused.

"Have you read those pages yet?" Adrien asked as he sat back down in his chair.

Much to his surprise, Marinette shook her head. "I don't follow the Ladyblog that closely. I read things sometimes, of course, to support Alya-"

Adrien blinked. "Are you just not that interested in Ladybug and Chat Noir, then?" He would have thought Marinette would be a huge fan of the superheroes, especially after how excited she had been to meet him as Chat Noir. Besides, it was hard to find anyone these days who _wasn't_ a fan of Ladybug and Chat Noir.

"I am!" Marinette assured him quickly. "I watch Alya's videos, I'm just not super-interested in all of the extra analysis Alya does." She grinned. "Don't tell Alya I said that. I read things when I know she's put a ton of work into them or she talks about something a lot, though."

"I read everything," Adrien admitted a bit sheepishly. If Ladybug ever found out, he'd never be able to look her in the face again. He already spent so much time with her during fights and patrols, so really there shouldn't be any reason for him to surf the Ladyblog re-reading things he already knew. Sometimes, when he was especially busy, he stayed up later than he really should to read the Ladyblog on his phone. Plagg usually complained endlessly when he did.

They fell back into semi-silence as they put their finishing touches on their project. As Marinette pulled out her Physics things, Adrien excused himself to go "check on his cat". As he turned to head up his stairs to the second level of his room, he noticed a black blur zipping back upstairs. Adrien froze.

Plagg had been hovering only a little over a meter behind him and Marinette. _What had he been thinking?_

Adrien moved faster, clattering up the stairs. As soon as he got to the second level, he made a beeline for where Plagg was flopped on the discarded towel from earlier, pretending that he was napping.

Adrien knew better.

"Plagg, what were you _thinking?_ " Adrien demanded as quietly as he could manage. "She could have seen you! I could understand spying from the couch, maybe, but if she had turned around-"

Plagg rolled his eyes. "Rel _aaaaa_ x. I have plenty of experience with staying out of sight. I wasn't born yesterday, you know."

Adrien sent him an annoyed look. "And yet you got spotted less than an hour ago. If Marinette gets another look at you, I really doubt that she would believe the cat lie again. Couldn't you just stay up here?"

"I got bored," Plagg protested. "And I wanted to watch you and your girlfriend together. Already letting her know about your Ladybug obsession, huh?"

Adrien turned red despite himself. "She's my friend, not my girlfriend. And we're just doing homework. It's not that exciting."

Plagg simply hummed to himself, a smirk on his face.

* * *

Marinette was having a hard time paying attention to the first Physics problem on the worksheet. Part of the problem was that she was hanging out with Adrien _alone_ in his room. She was thankfully calmer about it now than she would have been at the start of the school year (it turned out that hanging out with Adrien and being able to communicate in full sentences was more fun than stuttering in front of him whenever they ran into each other in the hallway), but the stomach butterflies still weren't completely gone. She was also a bit distracted by the strange feeling she had gotten when she saw Adrien's ( _really_ deformed) cat. While she couldn't see it now since it was hiding on the second floor of Adrien's room, she _could_ hear Adrien as he talked to his cat. Oddly enough, he sounded a bit irritated. She had thought that Adrien would be trying to calm it down since her presence had scared the poor thing nearly out of its skin, if that jump had been any indication.

And what had she even been _thinking_ , thinking (even for a moment) that Adrien's pet cat was actually a kwami? It was complete insanity. The cat being a kwami would mean that _Adrien_ was actually Chat Noir and she knew full well that that wasn't the case. She knew her fellow superhero partner (as well as one could know someone without giving away potentially-identifiable information) and there was just no way. Nope. Zilch, nada, nothing.

...well okay, maybe there was, like, a 1% chance. But that was it.

Adrien's voice cut off from upstairs and soon his footsteps clattered down the spiral staircase and onto the main floor. For some reason, he looked a little red.

"Is you cat all right?" Marinette asked. If it wasn't used to visitors, maybe she was stressing the poor thing out. Maybe they should head over to her house to do the Physics homework instead of staying in Adrien's room. She was about to suggest it when she remembered that today was the day when the bakery had the most help, which would free her parents up to _spy_ on her and Adrien again.

...maybe that would be her last resort. Even sitting in the Agreste's overly large and slightly depressing dining room to do homework would be better than having to put up with her parents poking their heads in every five minutes to "check up on them".

Adrien looked startled for a moment, which Marinette thought was a bit strange. "My ca- oh, yes, he's fine. He's being a little grouchy at the moment, though."

Ah. That would explain the irritation in Adrien's voice when he was talking to his cat. Maybe it had tried to scratch him, though she didn't see any blood on Adrien's hands.

"I'm not upsetting him by being here?" Marinette checked again. "Because if he's not used to being around other people, I don't want to stress him out by being in the same room."

"I'm not kicking you out," Adrien assured her quickly before he seemed to think of something. "Actually! Yeah, uh, maybe we should be in a different room for a bit. Let him calm down. Great idea. Yep. I know just the place."

They packed up quickly, shoving papers and books and calculators into their bags as Adrien told Marinette about the small library in his house, perfect for getting work done without distractions. He seemed suddenly far too eager to leave his own room, for reasons Marinette couldn't discern. He hadn't seemed terribly upset about the possibility of upsetting his cat before, but maybe he was just good at hiding it.

As they left to head up to the library, Marinette could almost swear that she heard Adrien mutter "Stupid cat can't spy on us there" under his breath, barely audible over their footsteps. But that couldn't be right. His cat was scared and shy. She must have misheard, that was the only explanation.

 _Right?_


	4. Morning Wake-up

"Has anyone seen Marinette this morning?"

Miss Bustier watched as the class glanced around, murmuring. Sure enough, Marinette still wasn't on the bus and there was no sign of her running down the sidewalk, even as it grew uncomfortably close to the time that the class had to leave for their trip to a museum across the city.

As Alya confirmed that she hadn't heard from Marinette at all yet that morning Adrien bit his lip, nervous. Marinette was his partner for their field trip, since Alya and Nino had decided to eschew their normal pairs and go together. He had noticed that Marinette was late when he got on the bus but he hadn't been concerned about her tardiness until now. Being late or just barely on time seemed to be a bit of a trend with her but it usually wasn't a huge problem, since homeroom came first in the day and they didn't normally do a whole lot during that time.

Now, fewer than ten minutes before the buses had to leave, was _not_ a good time to be late.

"She might be on her way," Alya suggested. She pulled out her phone and quickly texted her friend before a thought made her frown. "Or...she might be asleep."

Miss Bustier frowned as well. "Can someone go check on her? Adrien, you're Marinette's partner, right? You've been to her house?" At Adrien's nod, she smiled. "Could you pop over?"

Adrien nodded obediently and hopped off the bus, jogging quickly towards Marinette's parent's bakery. It only took thirty seconds to get to there and in the door, but it was thirty seconds that they didn't really have to spare. Surely Marinette hadn't forgotten about the field trip? Never mind that, didn't Marinette ever set an alarm clock? She should have been up ages ago.

Shoving the thoughts out of his head (for all he knew, Marinette could be a very heavy sleeper, he'd never asked), Adrien pushed open the bakery's door and made a beeline for the counter.

"Adrien! I wasn't expecting to see you this morning!" Sabine beamed at him, even as she quickly rung up a customer's purchase. "Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

"I- yeah.," Adrien stammered, a bit taken aback. If Sabine knew that he was supposed to be at school, shouldn't she know that Marinette was supposed to be there as well? Shaking himself, he focused. Maybe she had just been really busy that morning and couldn't check in on Marinette. Maybe Marinette normally left via the side door instead of out the front of the bakery. "Have you seen Marinette this morning? We're supposed to be leaving on a field trip in-" he checked his watch and winced "-seven and a half minutes."

Sabine gasped, one hand flying up to cover her mouth. "Oh no! I had to come down early this morning for a big order so I didn't make sure that she got up. Go on up and let yourself in. If Marinette isn't up yet, feel free to go up to her room and wake her up. She wouldn't want to miss the trip. She's been talking about it for ages."

Adrien nodded (for the third time this morning; he was starting to feel like a bobblehead doll) and zipped past Sabine and through the back door of the store into the stairwell. He absolutely sprinted up the stairs, hoping that Marinette was actually up. He didn't really want to just _invite_ himself into a girl's room, especially if said girl was _asleep_ when he went in. It would be creepy.

Still, he knew perfectly well that if Marinette were awake, she wouldn't be hanging around eating breakfast. She had to be either asleep or getting ready at the speed of light.

Adrien had to force himself to not stop at the door and instead go barging straight in. He was met with an empty room, and it was only his father's (well, Nathalie's) training that kept him from swearing. It was just his luck that he would have to actually do the one thing he had been hoping wouldn't be necessary.

A little hesitantly, Adrien headed up the stairs to Marinette's closed bedroom door. He knocked at the door and listened to any sign of activity.

Nothing.

"Marinette, are you up?" Adrien called through the door. He pushed the trapdoor up a bit warily. He and Marinette had only _just_ started hanging out more and really talking, so the last thing he wanted to do was walk in on her changing. Why hadn't he asked Alya to come fetch Marinette again? He had _known_ that there was a chance that Marinette might be asleep. And he felt like a major creep going into a girl's room while she was asleep.

Plagg had no such reservations. The kwami shot out of Adrien's pocket and into Marinette's room, flying up into the room and peering into Marinette's loft. Adrien lunged forward into Marinette's room, hand stretched out helplessly after his kwami.

"She's still asleep," Plagg reported, still floating up by Marinette's loft in plain sight. "You'll have to come wake her up."

"Get back down here!" Adrien hissed furiously. What was Plagg _thinking?_ Marinette had already seen him once, there was no way he could explain the kwami away again. No cat on earth could jump that high, special breed or not. "She'll wake up and see you!"

Plagg only dropped a little bit. If Marinette were to wake up now, there was _still_ no way she would miss seeing the kwami.

Grumbling, Adrien opened the trapdoor all the way before hurrying across the room and climbing the stairs to Marinette's loft. He felt like even _more_ of a creeper now, but there were just over five minutes left before they had to get on the bus. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and he could only hope that Marinette wouldn't be too creeped out when she woke up.

"Marinette, it's time to wake up," Adrien called. His voice came out quieter than he meant for it to, probably because _this was really weird seriously he should have asked Alya to do this_. He reached out and gave Marinette's shoulder a gentle shake. "Marinette, the bus will be leaving soon."

Marinette grumbled and twisted away from his slightly, making the blanket over her shift. Adrien caught a glimpse of something small and red lying next to her before Plagg let out an ear-splittingly loud squeal and zipped forward past Adrien to pounce on what had to be a tiny red doll of some sort.

"SURPRISE!"

"PLAGG NO!" Adrien yelped, diving forward without thinking to catch his still-squealing kwami as Plagg bounced across the blankets with the red doll. He landed across the bed with a thump, fingers grasping the air. "Get back here!"

They were going to get in _so. much. trouble._

Adrien was too busy grabbing for his kwami (why was Plagg making so much _noise_ he was going to wake Marinette up and then they would be in trouble) to wonder about why Plagg was so entranced with whatever the red thing was.

 _Stupid kwami is going to get my stupid identity revealed I'm gonna kill him he's not getting anything besides bottled cheese for a week-_

A yelp suddenly interrupted his thoughts, making Adrien glance back. Suddenly he realized two things.

One, he had landed on top of Marinette when he lunged for Plagg.

And two, Marinette was awake and staring at him with wide, startled eyes.

* * *

Marinette woke up to the sound of a squealing kwami and wild-haired, red-faced Adrien Agreste laying across her in her bed. Her brain came to a stuttering halt as she tried to make sense of what on earth could possibly be going on.

Her brain came up empty.

"I have a good excuse for this," Adrien blurted out a second later, not moving at all from his position on top of her.

"O-kay?"

"The, uh, field trip is today," Adrien started, glancing away for a second to make a grab for something on the other side of the bed. The bed jolted as he moved. "And we're meant to leave in, like, three minutes, so Miss Bustier sent me to look for you and your parents sent me up because the store is really busy and, uh, so I came up here-"

"And woke me up by laying on my bed?" Marinette finally managed. Suddenly she frowned, finally picking up a slightly muted squealing sound coming from the side of the bed that Adrien was reaching for. The noise had been going on ever since she woke up, if she thought about it. "What is that sound?"

Adrien's eyes flickered back and forth between Marinette's face and whatever he was reaching for. "I, uh, brought my cat, because a, uh, cleaner was supposed to come today to clean my room and I didn't want my dad finding out and when I got up to your bed, he jumped out of my bag and attacked your doll-"

Marinette gasped. Her _doll?_ Poor Tikki! At least Adrien hadn't gotten a good look at her.

"-and so I lunged after him and landed on top of you and yep, that's what happened," Adrien finished. He made one more lunge across the bed (Marinette smothered her squeal; no point in making things even more awkward than they already were) and finally got a hold of his cat. Before Marinette could get a good look at the slightly misshapen (and very small) cat, Adrien whisked him swiftly back into his bag, pushing himself off the bed (and off of Marinette) as he did. Marinette immediately dove to the side, grabbing Tikki and tucking her under the covers out of sight before Adrien could get a better look at her.

"I-I should get dressed, and then I'll be right down," Marinette managed, still blushing a brilliant red. Her brain had finally woken up all the way and realized that Adrien was _right there_ and she was still wearing her _pajamas._ Her bedhead was probably awful, and she could only hope that Adrien hadn't caught a whiff of her breath. She might have gotten better around Adrien, but waking up to _this_ still was a little too much. "Er, t-thanks for coming to, uh, wake me up?" The last part sounded more like a question than a statement and more like a squeak than actual words, but apparently Adrien managed to work out what she had said.

"Right, of course!" Adrien managed before spinning around and rocketing down her loft stairs. Marinette listened as his footsteps raced straight on down to the Dupain-Cheng kitchen/living room without stopping. Her trapdoor thudded closed behind him.

All Marinette wanted to do was flop back down on her bed and groan. She couldn't believe that she had woken up to _Adrien_ in her _bed_ (that sounded a lot more inappropriate than it actually was) and that he had seen her _sleeping_.

But she didn't have time. One glance at her clock told Marinette that she was very, very late and would be missing the field trip if she wasted any more time.

Three minutes later, Marinette skidded into the kitchen, fully dressed, teeth brushed, and hair patted down enough to pass as not full-on bedhead. Thankfully she had fully packed her backpack the night before on Tikki's suggestion, so she didn't have to race around in a panic finding everything. Adrien grinned when he saw her and held out a slice of toast with jam on it.

"That was fast."

"I- yeah, I've gotten lots of practice getting ready in a hurry," Marinette managed, trying for a grin and probably only managing a sort of grimace. She grabbed an orange from the bowl on the counter with her free hand and tucked it in her backpack before heading for the door. By her count, they had less than a minute to get on the bus.

"Do you need to pack a lunch?" Adrien asked as Marinette headed out. His words sent her skidding to a halt right before she hit the door. In a feat of grace more typical of her superhero side, Marinette managed to keep both her face and her toast from smashing straight into the door as she spun around and made a dash to the fridge where her lunch was already packed in a paper bag. That went in her backpack as well before she shut the fridge door and both of them sprinted down the stairs and into the bakery.

"Ah, good, you got her up!" Sabine said as Marinette kissed her mother's cheek. She handed Adrien a bakery bag. "Treats for the two of you to have on your trip! Have a good time, dears!"

"Thanks, Mrs. Cheng!" Adrien exclaimed as he took the bag.

"Thank you, mom!" Marinette echoed. "See you after school!"

Sabine's answer was lost as both teens sprinted out of the door. The bus was rumbling as they crossed the street, ready to pull away. The other class's bus was already gone, Marinette noticed with a wince. She was running _really_ late.

"Good morning, Miss Dupain-Cheng," Miss Bustier said disapprovingly as they clambered on. "It's nice to see you awake and ready to start class."

Marinette winced and scuttled past her teacher. Alya waved at her from halfway back on the bus and pointed at the empty row in front of her and Nino. Her grin turned almost predatory when she caught sight of Marinette's red face and Marinette gulped. She had gotten lucky with Adrien not asking about Tikki, but she had a feeling that that lucky streak had just come to an end.

 _Really, where was an akuma when you needed one?_


	5. A Place to Hide

_This was supposed to be the last chapter, buuuuuuuut I got run over by a plot bunny again and so there will be one last part after this._

 _Note: all references to "football" are in this case referring to the game that in the U.S. (and in a couple assorted other places) is called soccer._

* * *

The downside of having their end-of-year picnic on the same day as every other class in the school (and the same day as nearly every other school in the city) was that the local park was already booked for the younger grades. After a fair number of discussions and talks about just cancelling the all-day picnic (resulting in the only Chloe meltdown that the rest of the class actually appreciated), Mr. Damocles finally managed to get permission to let their grade use the Princess Stadium.

"You'll have full access to all of the equipment that the school keeps there," the principal told their class, beaming as widely as he could to try to generate some excitement. The expression looked like it was starting to hurt him. "And it's got bathrooms on-site, as you all know, and it's really much larger than the park is. I'll just remind you now that it is a privilege to use the stadium, not a right, so vandalism will not be tolerated. Field trip behaviors apply as normal." He sent one last pained grin at the room of students. "I hope you have fun! Don't forget to stay hydrated!"

He scuttled out before anyone could say anything. Miss Bustier took his place at the front of the room.

"I know you all were hoping to go to an actual park, but at least we get to have our day out!" she exclaimed with a smile. "I'll propose that next year our classes get first pick for location. Now, remember that everyone is to bring something to the picnic. I'll hand out the sheets with your assigned dishes tomorrow. Now, let's start class..."

As she turned to write on the board, Adrien turned to Nino with a confused look. "Why do people care if we have the picnic at a park or not? The stadium is cool, too."

"It's because we go there all the time for gym and whatnot. Besides, there's no shade and pretty much everything will be off-limits anyway." Nino shrugged. "It'll be the same rules that we have when we have gym there."

That didn't seem _too_ bad to Adrien. "We go to the park all the time anyway. How's that different?"

"We don't go there for _classes_."

About half the class seemed to have the same problems with the plan as Nino did. They were all happy to actually have their picnic, of course, they just wanted to go to a _park_.

"It's tradition," Kim grumbled. "And the stadium smells like sweaty socks."

"Don't pretend that half of that isn't your fault," Alya teased with a grin. "Didn't the gym teacher tell you off for leaving your socks there?"

"Only once!" Kim protested loudly.

"Only once so far this _month,_ " Max corrected. "If you tally the number of times you have been told that you left your socks at the stadium this year, it adds up to somewhere around thirty."

A wave of snickers went around the classroom.

Still, even the venue couldn't dampen their enthusiasm for the picnic and the end of the school year. It was a day without schoolwork, without homework, and with no rules against talking or having their phone out. They got to try new dishes (Adrien was particularly looking forward to whatever Marinette was going to bring), and it was pretty much an entire day of getting to hang out with classmates they might not get to see during the summer.

The day of the picnic, the whole class headed over to the Princess Stadium as a group, hauling their dishes in bags and backpacks and in the kid's wagon Rose had managed to procure. Chloe, being Chloe, had dressed up for the picnic with a yellow sundress and matching yellow wide-brimmed hat, no doubt designed by some top accessories designer just for her. Sabrina had on a surprisingly nice outfit as well, but anyone with eyes could tell that it was an old dress of Chloe's, something that was a year out of style but still pretty.

Not that Chloe cared. According to her, the mayor's daughter just _couldn't_ be seen wearing something so _old._

Adrien walked alongside Nino, Alya, and Marinette happily, lugging the heavy bag that contained a huge bowl of a fancy pasta salad that his chef had made for the class. Rose had offered to pull it in her wagon, but Adrien had waved away her concern. Other people had heavier bags that they would have more trouble carrying. Max had been all too happy to hand over a heavy glass pan. Mylene had added a chocolate cake that was practically bigger than her head. Rose herself had tossed three bags of chips on top of Juleka's bowl of fruit salad so that she could take turns pulling the wagon on their way to the stadium.

"So what did you bring, Marinette?" Adrien asked, trying to peer into her giant bag. All he saw was a several large bakery boxes. A delicious smell wafted out of the bag. "Did you help bake it?"

"I did almost all the baking," Marinette corrected. "My mom helped a bit so I could get everything done and out of the oven before it got too late, though."

Alya looked surprised. "Your dad didn't help?"

Marinette shook her head. "He offered, of course. But he bakes all day, and since I didn't have any homework I had plenty of time to bake. It's relaxing, really."

Adrien couldn't resist perking up. Marinette knew how to bake? He'd have to ask her to teach him at some point. Cooking and baking was something he had done with his mother once upon a time, and he definitely missed it.

"Okay, but what did you make, Marinette?" Nino asked, drawing Adrien's thoughts back down to earth. "It smells like cookies, but I can't tell what type."

Marinette giggled. "That's because it's several types. I would have had to do several batches anyway to have enough, so I decided it would be more fun to not do the same thing two or three times."

Adrien's brow furrowed. "Wait, how many cookies does one batch make?"

"Two dozen, usually- but you haven't seen how many cookies Kim and Alix eat all by themselves!" Marinette added as soon as she saw the look on Adrien's face. "People snack on them all day. There won't be any left by the time we leave the stadium."

"Both classes will be eating them," Nino added. "So if everyone has, like, six cookies..."

"But other people are bringing desserts as well, right?" Adrien asked. "I mean, Sabrina brought brownies, and Mylene brought cake."

Nino only cackled. "Bro, you clearly aren't familiar with the volume of sugar that gets consumed at these things. All the food's gonna be gone."

Once they reached the stadium, everyone rushed to get their food put on the tables. The tables were labelled, so that all of the main dishes were on the same table and all of the sides were on another. Once everyone had gotten rid of their loads, they rushed off. Some people made a beeline for the sports equipment that had been set out, while others lounged around with their friends.

"It's too bad we can't go sit in the bleachers," Nino said after their group was forced to move to avoid a game of football that had gotten too close to them. "Like, a lot of people just want to chill out, and there aren't any benches down here to sit on like there are at the park."

"I heard the teachers talking about that earlier," Alya said. "It's because they don't want kids going through all of the back hallways and being out of the teachers' sight for so long."'

Adrien could understand that. He had been to the Princess Stadium before quite a few times, and not only was there the very real possibility of getting lost, but there was quite a lot that a troublesome student could get up to. Still, it would have been nice if they had even just one small section of the bleachers where they could sit and relax.

Before long, all four of them had been pulled into a boys-against-girls game of football with their classmates. Since the other class had claimed the real goal nets, they had to make do with rolled-up mats, propped upright a bit precariously on the ground. Ivan and Kim had been the ones setting up, since they were the only ones that could really carry the mats fairly easily. Occasionally they had to pull the mats back upright after someone- or several someones, in one spectacularly panicky fall- ran into them. Rules tended to be more suggestions than anything else as they played, resulting in more than a few not-quite-accidental shoves and trips.

Adrien was very, very glad that he had worn an old outfit, since he had wiped out on the grass twice already. Dirt and grass stains ran up his right leg, which resulted in more than a few friendly jabs from the other boys in the class.

"What would your dad say about you destroying your clothes?" Kim taunted during one of their time-outs as Adrien tried in vain to dust off his shirt and genes. He only managed to rub the mud in even further. "Grass stains are hard to get out, y'know."

Adrien _didn't_ know, much to his embarrassment. He only rarely ever got stains on his clothing and when he did, he wasn't the one to get them out. "These are old clothes. He probably wouldn't care."

That was only partially true, and Adrien knew it. His father wouldn't care about the clothes themselves, but he _would_ care about Adrien being dressed less than neatly in public, especially if any tabloids decided that it was a slow enough day that they had to harass a teenage model. He wasn't going to worry too much about it, though. Maybe his father would be inspired to make clothing with stain-proof fabric perfect for playing outdoors.

The game only went on for a bit longer after that. The girls were winning, mostly because Alya, Alix, and (surprisingly enough) Marinette were fiercely competitive and they could duck under the boys' defenses. Marinette had somehow talked Mylene into playing for what appeared to be the sole purpose of distracting Ivan enough to make him not a threat. The boys had protested, but it wasn't like the girls were breaking any rules.

Lunch came around sooner than they were expecting, putting an end to Kim's begging for a redemption round of football. There was a general stampede to the tables as people fought for a place in line, which Adrien felt was completely unnecessary. There was plenty of food, so much that it was almost impossible to see the tables underneath since they were so covered. It was hardly like anyone was going to go hungry.

"This is complete madness," Adrien told Nino as they slowly worked their way forward. "There's no way all of this will get eaten."

Nino only snickered and handed Adrien a plate. "It will, believe me. Dig in, there's no such thing as diets at end-of-school picnics."

Adrien dug in. His plate was about to buckle under the weight of the food by the time he got to the end of the line, but he still managed to balance three of Marinette's cookies on top of his plate before he and Nino headed over to join Alya and Marinette on the grass.

"Chloe had her butler bring over lawn chairs for her and Sabrina, did you see?" Alya said as soon as the boys settled down on the grass. "And he just brought in a little table for them as well, can you believe it?"

Adrien could. It was very _Chloe_.

The butler had also brought a large umbrella, one like you might find on a beach. It had been propped up between the two girls, providing a neat circle of shade. More than a few people were giving the girls envious looks.

"So what are y'all doing over the summer?" Alya asked suddenly, drawing their attention away from Chloe. "I'm babysitting a lot, so lots of boring. I can't wait until my sister gets old enough to babysit too, because then I can do something else. Get a real job, maybe."

"Like helping in your mom's kitchen?" Nino asked. "Or, like, a journalism job? Do they even give jobs like that to collège and lycée students?" He frowned. "And which sister are we talking about here? Don't you have, like, twenty sisters?"

"No, I'd be working in my mom's kitchen," Alya admitted. "It's not glamorous, but I like cooking and I'd be getting money that I could use for a better camera for interviews with Ladybug and Chat Noir. The one I have now doesn't always focus on the action shots very well all of the time. And I'm talking about Stèphanie, of course. She's next oldest after me."

In Adrien's humble opinion, having a job in the Grand Paris kitchens would probably put a damper on Alya's reporting activities, but what did he know? Maybe babysitting her army of younger siblings was just as bad.

"I'll be relaxing mostly, maybe mixing some beats," Nino said, shrugging. "Same as usual. Maybe my family will go out camping for a weekend or something. I'll try to invite all of you along if we do, because it's boring with just my parents around."

"That would be awesome," Adrien said, picturing them all huddled around a campfire and maybe going for a hike. The lovely painting in his head promptly burst when he realized that the chances of his father letting him go were miniscule. He'd have to appeal to Nathalie and maybe tolerate the Gorilla tagging along as well. "I'll be doing a couple photoshoots during the summer and doing fencing as usual, of course- and I think my dad said something about signing me up for basketball again," he added, remembering the mostly-ignored monologue his father had directed at him just the other day. Sneaking away to fight as Chat Noir would be practically as difficult as it had been during the school year with all of the activities that were getting piled on him. "I'll let you know when I have my schedule, though. It shouldn't be too bad to work around it. What about you, Marinette? Any big plans?"

"Not really," Marinette said after a slightly awkward pause. It seemed that she maybe hadn't been expecting his to address her. "I'll be babysitting Manon a couple times a week, probably, and working a few shifts in the bakery, and doing commissions. Jagged Stone wants a new pair of sunglasses for his big show at the end of the summer," Marinette added, almost as an afterthought. "He's given me free reign for the actual design this time. All he said was that it had to be something he couldn't find in stores and he wanted it to be as crazy as last time."

Nino and Adrien gaped. Alya, who no doubt had heard the news before, smiled smugly.

"That's incredible, Marinette!" Adrien exclaimed. "I didn't know you were still in touch with Jagged!" He shouldn't have been surprised, really. Marinette really _got_ Jagged Stone's style. If the rock star had managed to remember her well enough to ask her to design his album cover art, of course he would probably get in contact with her again.

"Tell them the other part," Alya prompted when Marinette turned bright red and seemed to be at a loss for words. "About the old glasses, and what Jagged Stone is doing."

"He's not selling them, is he?" Nino asked a bit incredulously. "Jagged _loves_ Marinette's glasses. He's worn them in, like, every interview since he got them."

Marinette shook her head a bit shyly. "No, he's keeping the ones I made for him. But there were people making knock-offs of the design, so he decided to put a stop to that and release his own line of glasses."

Adrien gaped. _That_ was incredible. Then he shook himself, intent on making sure that Marinette wasn't getting gypped for her work. Jagged Stone clearly respected her as an artist, but Adrien knew from experience (okay, from the stories of the other models and makeup artists he worked with) that even the nicest celebrities sometimes were a little flaky sometimes on details like actually _paying_ people for their work. "You're getting paid for designing the glasses, right? I'm pretty certain that normally the designer would get a percentage of the profit from every pair sold."

"Yes, yes, of course!" Marinette nodded so hard that Adrien was almost worried that her head might fly off. "Penny came and talked about it with my parents and I, and I had done some research beforehand, and they're giving me _way_ more than what I ever could have asked for. Jagged didn't care about the money, he just didn't want other people profiting off of my design. So...pretty much all of the profit is going to me. He way overpaid for the album cover art as well."

"Marinette's name will be on the glasses," Alya reported proudly. "It's the same gold signature that was on the hat she made for your dad's contest."

Nino was snickering. "Chloe will be so jealous," he said, almost cackling. "Wasn't she the one who basically got you in contact with Jagged Stone first, with the fetching job at the hotel?"

"I bet Jagged will ask for even more designs, then," Adrien told Marinette as Nino and Alya cackled away in the background. "Lines like that usually have three, four designs minimum. Maybe he'll even ask you to design him a stage outfit!"

"Ooh, that would be _amazing_ ," Marinette sighed. "And I'm thinking of making several designs for Jagged Stone to choose from. Maybe he'll like a couple of them."

"I bet he will," Adrien replied stoutly. He believed in Marinette's talent. He wouldn't be at all surprised if Jagged Stone loved every single one of Marinette's designs and decided to make them all.

"Hey, does anyone recognize that guy?" Nino asked, cutting across their conversation before Adrien could ask if Marinette had any ideas sketched out yet. He pointed across the grass to where a man dressed in all brown was talking to Miss Bustier. "I don't think he's from the school."

"He looks like he might work at the stadium," Adrien said. He frowned as he looked closer. "He doesn't look happy. I hope they aren't kicking us out."

After another minute of talking, the man stomped off back into the stadium. Miss Bustier immediately hurried over to talk to Madam Mendeleiev. Both teachers looked a bit stressed as they separated.

"You might be right," Nino said a bit unhappily as the two teachers approached groups of students. "Something must have happened. I hope that they at least let us finish lunch so we won't have to carry as much stuff back home."

Almost all of the students were on edge as they watched the teachers make their way around the field, talking to one group at a time. Adrien set his plate aside, appetite lost. He didn't want this day to end so soon. For all he knew, it would be the last day for a while where he got to hang out with all of his friends.

"What's going on, Miss Bustier?" Alya called as soon as Miss Bustier got closer to them. "We aren't ending early, are we?"

Miss Bustier smiled a bit tightly. "No, no. We just have a small problem. Have any of you gone in to the bathrooms this morning?"

Puzzled, all four of them shook their heads. "We were playing football," Nino volunteered. "With Kim and Ivan and Alix and Mylene and-"

"Yes, yes, I saw." Miss Bustier smiled slightly. "So you didn't go in to wash hands before lunch?"

There was a pause. Adrien looked down at his hands in slight horror. Sure enough, he had forgotten to wash them. As far as he could remember, he had simply wiped his hands off on his shirt before joining the rush line for lunch.

 _Whoops_.

"Marinette and I washed our hands off with the hose," Alya volunteered. She grinned at the boys. "We knew lunch was coming up, so we didn't bother to stay and argue with Kim."

"You could have mentioned it," Nino grumbled. "I like washing my hands before eating, oddly enough." He grinned at Adrien. "And I bet Adrien has never eaten without washing his hands before in his life."

Adrien could only shrug. Nino was probably right.

"Is there something wrong with the bathrooms?" Alya asked Miss Bustier. "The guy that was talking to you looked upset."

Miss Bustier frowned. "Someone decided to vandalize the boy's room with a permanent marker and spitballs all over the ceiling. We're trying to find out who did it, but there's not a whole lot else that we can do since it's the end of the school year."

All of them winced. "Are they certain that it was someone in our group?" Nino asked. "I honestly can't see anyone in our class vandalizing anything, and the other class doesn't seem that troublesome either."

"That's why we're asking around, to see if anyone went to the bathroom earlier and happened to notice." Miss Bustier glanced behind her. "I don't know when they last cleaned the bathrooms here, so it's possible that it happened before we got here. The engineer doesn't think so, though." With a sigh, Miss Bustier went on her way to the next group sitting on the ground.

"Isn't that the same guy who always glares at us when we come here for gym?" Nino asked. "It's got to be, he hates us all."

Alya rolled her eyes. "He doesn't 'hate us all', he just doesn't like having to clean up after the messes the collège kids make. I bet you would be grumpy too if you had to deal with Kim's dirty socks all the time."

Adrien couldn't help the grin that snuck back onto his face as he picked his plate of food back up and continued eating. He hoped that whoever had vandalized the bathroom was found out, of course, and it definitely would be bad for the school if it ended up being someone from their classes, but he wasn't going to worry about it. There were better things to talk about, at any rate, and it was summer. Wasn't it some kind of teenage rule to not worry about anything during the summer?

They were all so caught up in talking that they didn't notice when the employee came out again. This time he only talked to their teachers for a minute before his expression turned dark and he stormed off into the building.

A minute later, an akuma the height of two humans stormed out onto the lawn. In one hand, it held a bucket; in the other, a mop. Chaos spread throughout the stadium as he strode forward, and more than a few students edged towards the exits.

In a move almost too fast to follow, the akuma hooked the mop onto his back and reached into his bucket. He flung a handful of something mushy and grey at each of the exits in rapid succession. As the mushy grey substance landed it expanded, effectively blocking off their only way out in only seconds.

"That," Nino said, sounding both disgusted and impressed, "is gross."

"I AM THE ENGINEER," the akuma boomed. His eyes scanned over the field, angry and black behind the mask. "AND NO ONE WILL LEAVE UNTIL I LEARN WHO HERE DECIDED TO DEFACE THE STADIUM!"

"I can't believe there's an akuma here now!" Alya squealed as she pulled out her camera and darted away, but Adrien wasn't listening as he scrambled to his feet. His eyes were busy scanning the stadium, looking for a place where he could hide and transform. There really weren't any hiding spots, especially with the exits sealed off. The tables were no good, since they didn't have any tablecloths on them and there were already students huddled beneath them. He could maybe hide behind one of the rolled-mat goalposts, but the probability of someone seeing him was _way_ too high. One part of his mind noted that both Nino and Marinette had already managed to vanish in the chaos. Where they had gone, Adrien had no idea.

Adrien's eyes caught on the pile of mats behind what had been the boys' goal. The stack was pretty high, but a little staggered. He could probably run up the side and vault the rest of the way over onto the bleachers side. He would really have to run after that to get inside the building and be able to transform, but it was his only chance.

Ignoring the chaos, Adrien _bolted_.

He dodged people running all around him as he ran for the mats. Ahead of him, Kim caught the direction of his gaze and caught on, running for the mats himself. The taller boy jumped up with no trouble and pulled himself over the railing, landed on his feet, and kept running. Adrien sped up as much as he could, eyes locked on his goal. If the Engineer caught on to Kim's exit, that could spell trouble for him.

He was _so close_ to getting away. _So close._

Just as Adrien got close to the makeshift goal posts, a roar and a shadow flashing over him left him skidding to a stop. The Engineer flew over his head in one gigantic bound, landing in the bleachers and crushing several rows. He smirked at Adrien for a moment before turning his attention to Kim, who was making a very speedy beeline to the exit.

In that moment, when Adrien was still off-balance from his sudden stop and the Engineer was distracted, Adrien felt someone grab his arm. Suddenly he was flying to the side, behind the mat-turned-goal-post. Adrien landed, stumbling and disoriented. Before he could do anything besides yelp, the person had grabbed hold of him by the hips and yanked him in front of themselves, pressing their face into his chest. Adrien was about to object to being used as a human shield (because really, _rude)_ when a sharp hiss of " _Tikki, transform me!"_ stopped him in his tracks. He glanced down on reflex and had only caught a glimpse of black hair before the flash of pink light almost blinded him.

 _Holy shit,_ Adrien's brain whispered as he blinked in stunned disbelief. _Ladybug just transformed right in front of me! How cool is that?_

While Adrien was still blinking away the spots in his vision from Ladybug's transformation, Ladybug twisted out from under his arms and lassoed a bar near the top of the stadium. She wrapped one strong arm around Adrien's waist, and the next thing he knew they were flying through the air. Adrien yelped as she retracted her yo-yo and flung again, leaving them suspended in mid-air for one heart-stopping second.

"Sorry for not warning you," Ladybug called over the whistle of the wind as Adrien tightened his arms around her shoulders. "I just didn't want the Engineer seeing you."

"Right," Adrien managed a little faintly as they swung again. He _really_ wasn't used to being up this high while not transformed- and come to think of it, he hadn't ever travelled with Ladybug by yo-yo before either. It was kind of a one-person mode of transportation. "And, uh, why didn't you want the Engineer to see me?"

He appreciated it, of course- it was always better _not_ to get noticed by an akuma- but to Ladybug, he was just another civilian. Why bother wasting the energy to get him out safely?

"He might have thought that you saw who I am." Ladybug stiffened mid-swing, making Adrien squeak in terror as his ride suddenly got a whole lot bumpier. "You didn't, did you?"

"I- no, I didn't see anything," Adrien said hastily. The hair didn't count. He already knew that Ladybug had dark hair. "B-but yeah, I bet that the akuma would have thought that I did." Which would have been bad, because that would make it harder for him to get away.

"And then Hawkmoth probably would have started targeting you, and I didn't want that to happen." Ladybug did one final swing through the air before landing on a hotel roof. Adrien had to pull his feet up so that they wouldn't hit the ground first and trip Ladybug up. "Hopefully the door to the rest of the building is unlocked- or do you want me to take you down to the ground? I could take you down to the ground, hold on-"

"It's fine," Adrien assured her hastily as he let go of her shoulders and took a step back. Any more contact with her while he was outside of the suit and he was going to explode. _Why was this so much easier as Chat Noir?_ "I- I'll just take the fire escape down if the door is locked. T-thanks for getting me out of there. " _Good job, Adrien! Full sentences!_

He hadn't been this flustered the last time he saw Ladybug while he was Adrien, had he? He had maybe been a little on the bashful side, but he was fairly certain that he had come across as cool. Maybe. Possibly.

Of course, the _last time_ Ladybug had been protecting him and his father because they were being attacked directly and not because Ladybug had somehow singled him out from all of his classmates. It had actually worked out really nicely; completely by accident, Ladybug had managed to make sure that her partner would be able to transform safely. He wasn't even going to bother checking the door; after all, he was just going to transform and follow her back to the Princess Stadium the second her back was turned.

Ladybug nodded a bit sharply, her own cheeks tinged a little pink (from the wind, surely, and not their exchange?). She turned with a small wave and backflipped neatly off the building. Seconds later she appeared again, swinging easily through the Paris skyline towards the Princess Stadium. Adrien watched her going a bit dreamily, letting out a small sigh of admiration as she did a neat somersault before snagging another building with her yo-yo. Watching her _never_ got old, no matter how many times he saw it. She was just so powerful and strong and gorgeous and-

"Well, are we _going?_ " Plagg demanded, floating up out of Adrien's jacket and trying to catch his Chosen's attention. He flew into Adrien's face when he didn't get a response. "Are we _going?_ "

"I was right next to Ladybug's civilian form," Adrien sighed happily. His brain was finally starting to catch up with the rest of him. "She was _right there._ She grabbed _me._ "

Plagg sighed, rolled his eyes, and muttered something under his breath before speaking up. "Okay, okay. Fine. That's nice. Ladybug touched you because you just so happened to be a convenient shield for her to transform. Now get me my cheese and let's get going."

Adrien absentmindedly fished a wedge of cheese out of the bag he carried in his pocket and tossed it to Plagg. "Uh-huh. But Plagg, don't you think that's _so cool?_ And- oh!" Adrien exclaimed, clapping his hands together in sudden realization and making Plagg almost choke on his cheese. "She _must_ have been at the picnic and she needed to get out! She was there and- what if I talked to her, Plagg? Do you think I did? I mean, I didn't talk to a whole lot of people outside of our class but there were a couple of people from Madam Mendeleiev's class who I talked to while we were in line-"

Plagg sighed and rolled his eyes again.

"-and she can't be in our class because nearly everyone's been akumatized, but only a couple people from the other class have been. Ugh, now I'm going to want to look for her and she doesn't want me to-"

"If you're going to gush about Ladybug, can we transform first so I don't have to listen?" Plagg asked loudly. "Because I hear enough every day without this nonsense."

With a jolt, Adrien tore his eyes away from the stadium in the distance. "Right! Right, of course, definitely- Plagg, transform me!"

As Plagg spiraled towards Adrien's ring, he grinned deviously up at Adrien. Right before he was fully sucked into the ring, he opened his mouth and said the one thing that was sure to send Adrien reeling.

"You're going to slap yourself when you find out who she is."

 _What._

"Wait, what?" Chat Noir demanded of the now-empty air. "Plagg, what do you mean?"

His ring didn't answer.

" _PLAGG!"_


	6. Detransformed

The Intern was quite possibly one of the most frustrating akuma that Ladybug and Chat Noir had ever faced. She had the power to force people to do her bidding, for one thing. The army of mini-Interns was easy enough to identify with their bland grey suits, but they _really_ made it difficult to get close to the akuma.

And just to make things even harder, a botched Lucky Charm - Cataclysm combo had sent the superheroes fleeing from the enraged akuma, racing over rooftops in an attempt to put some distance between them and the akuma.

"Split up or stay together?" Chat Noir panted as he flat-out sprinted along a roof, vaulting over a street without pausing. "Ugh, she's still on our tail!"

"Stay together! If we split up, there's no way for us to know if the other person is in trouble." Ladybug dodged a thrown brick as she abruptly changed directions. Chat Noir skidded after her with barely a pause. "Using our communicators would only slow us down. We can split up once we've lost the akuma."

"Gotcha, My Lady."

"Why don't you give up now?" the Intern roared from behind them. "Give me your Miraculous, Ladybug and Chat Noir, and I won't turn you into my minions. If you make a fuss..." There was a pause, and both superheroes could picture in their mind's eye the unnerving grin the Intern would doubtless be giving them- well, giving their backs, at any rate. "Well, I think you would look good in a suit!"

"No thanks, that shade of grey washes me out!" Chat Noir shouted over his shoulder.

"And those suits are _so_ out of fashion!" Ladybug chimed in, vaulting over a chimney. "And they're _so_ poorly tailored, really."

The akuma positively _howled._

"We're getting close to Collège Françoise-Dupont," Chat Noir warned as he and Ladybug zig-zagged over the streets. "I'm guessing that they let out for the day when the attack hit earlier, but there still might be people hanging around."

"We'll have to risk it." Throwing a glance over her shoulder, Ladybug ran faster. "Besides, there've been so many attacks there that I know the building like the back of my hand. We can lose the akuma there and find a hiding place to detransform."

Chat Noir nodded, but he still looked a bit uncertain. "Bugaboo, I only have three minutes left."

"We'll have to lose him fast, then." Ladybug's expression went determined, completely and utterly focused as they charged forward. "We can go in the back area where we defeated Horrificator. There's a lot of places to hide back there!"

Chat Noir nodded, and in unison the superheroes jumped from the line of houses next to the park onto the roof of the school. They dropped down quickly and dodged into the shadows as they raced for the doors that they knew led to the guts of the school.

"Two minutes, my Lady," Chat Noir panted as they sprinted down the dimly-lit hallways. The Intern's laughter echoed behind them. "What happens if he hits us while we're not transformed?"

"I don't know!" Ladybug slid around a corner, nearly running over a custodian as she ran. "Let's not find out!"

They sprinted silently then, footsteps almost inaudible as they sped through the rarely-seen parts of the school, diving into the boiler room and out of sight. In stark contrast to their silent flight, they could hear the Intern's roars as she chased them, though she was falling farther and farther behind as they headed deeper into the enclosed space. As soon as she was in the boiler room she stopped, confused by the maze of equipment blocking her view. Ladybug grinned, picking up a wrench from an abandoned toolbox close to her. All she needed was a little distraction, and she and Chat Noir could go back out the way they came.

"I know you're in here," the Intern yelled, her voice echoing as she wandered further into the room. "You can't escape now! I'll catch you and then _you_ can work under _me_. It's all a matter of time-"

Ladybug wound up and threw the wrench as far as she could over the boilers. It clattered to the floor at the back of the room, making it sound like one of the superheroes had tripped back there. It was the oldest trick in the book, really, but akumas weren't known for being particularly bright. The Intern was no different. She positively lit up as she charged forward eagerly, letting out a shout of triumph. Ladybug and Chat Noir took their chance and charged back out the entrance, making a beeline for the main part of the school.

"No minions," Chat Noir noted in a whisper as they slid to a stop in front of the door leading to the rest of the school. "The school doors must be locked, and they aren't superpowered like the Intern is, so they can't get in."

"That's good news for us." Ladybug opened the door a crack and then threw it wide open when she saw the coast was clear. "Careful closing the door, we don't want the Intern hearing."

Chat Noir nodded and shut the door carefully. It didn't even make a click.

And then the superheroes ran.

"Less than a minute," Chat Noir panted as they tried yet another closet door and found it locked. "Maybe we can find something on the second level?" They were _screwed_ if there wasn't anything. They had been lucky that the school's doors were locked and capable of keeping the Intern out, but if they wasted too much time searching for a place to recharge they would lose the head start they had gotten. Add on the fact that they would have to find _two_ closets, one for him and one for Ladybug, and their chances of actually succeeding in this were plummeting into the single digits.

...okay, maybe he was spending too much time with Max.

"Let's try the closet in the library!" Ladybug suggested as she launched herself upwards. "It's always open, and it's a little bigger than some of the others in the school."

 _O...kay?_ Chat Noir blinked, puzzled (why would it matter if the closet was larger? It was hardly as though either of them would have any particular problem fitting into an average-sized closet unless it was packed full of cleaning supplies. If they tried being in the same closet they might into some problems, but it was hardly...as...though...

Surely Ladybug wasn't planning for them to share a closet while they recharged?

* * *

Ladybug, it turned out, was planning exactly that. With not even thirty seconds more time left than he had, it wasn't as though she would be able to find her own hiding place in time.

"We'll just have to stand back-to-back while we detransform," Ladybug said as she followed Chat Noir into the closet and pulled the door shut behind them. He gulped as the latch clicked. "And it's pretty dark in here, especially since the library lights are off, so it's not like we'd be able to see each other anyway..."

Chat Noir swallowed hard and nodded, then remembered that Ladybug couldn't see him. "R-right! Of course, makes perfect sense, yup, d-d-definitely don't mind sharing, not at all-"

Ladybug giggled and Chat Noir practically facepalmed. _Not at all smooth Agreste, good job_.

A flash of green light lit up the small space as Chat Noir's transformation finally unraveled. Both superheroes squeezed their eyes closed, and a moment later pink light lit up the closet as well. Adrien squeezed his eyes closed harder until the pink light faded, fighting the temptation to peek because really, Ladybug was _right there_ and if only he knew who she was...

"It's definitely too dark to see anything," Ladybug (Civilian Ladybug! He was right next to civilian Ladybug for the first time since last year's end-of-year picnic!) said. She shifted against Adrien's back. "So, uh, maybe we could turn around, because my face is right up against the shelf of cleaners and they smell _awful_."

"Ah, and I smell better?" Still, Adrien pressed against the wall and twisted around. They were a jumble of bumping elbows and knees and shoulders as both of them turned in the closet. Even though the closet was larger than most in the school (at least according to Ladybug; he wasn't going to question how she got that information), it still wasn't huge. They had to avoid hitting the walls and door, since the _thud_ of elbow against wood could easily give them away. Still, it didn't take too long to settle into a comfortable position. Adrien let his arms settle lightly around his partner's waist as her arms wrapped around him. Ladybug was letting her forehead rest against his shoulder, though he wasn't going to get himself overly excited about it. It could easily be more out of convenience than anything else; after all, they _did_ have very little space to work with.

There was a _whoosh_ of air past Adrien's face and soon he felt the familiar weight of Plagg sitting on his head. From the smell, he had grabbed a chunk of Camembert cheese from the stash in Adrien's jacket.

"Actually, the shelving smelled better," Ladybug suddenly joked, making as if she were about to turn back around. Adrien's arms tightened around her and she quivered in a silent giggle. "What is that? Cheese? Gym socks?"

"Camembert cheese," Adrien admitted sheepishly. "I know it smells, but my kwami refuses to eat anything else. It makes me smell awful, and I _know_ my best friend wants to comment about it, but he's too polite."

Ladybug giggled, and this time, a higher giggle joined hers.

 _Ladybug's kwami_. She sounded _adorable_.

"My kwami likes cookies," Ladybug offered after a moment. "Any kind, really, which is really convenient. I like making cookies, and she likes eating them." Another giggle, making Adrien's heart skip a beat. _It should be against the law to sound so cute_. "And I like eating them too, of course!"

"Of course." Feeling bold, Adrien let his nose drop to the crown of his partner's head. She smelled _lovely_ (utterly unfair considering that her nose was hovering just about where Plagg's cheese stash normally sat; the stupid kwami wasn't helping him make a good impression at _all_ ), like sugar and cinnamon and freshly baked things. Maybe she had just made a batch of cookies for her kwami that morning, Adrien mused, though on second thought that didn't _quite_ make sense. Unless Ladybug got up crazy early (and she had told him before that she was very much not a morning person), there was no way she could have made cookies before school. Perhaps she had taken the time at lunch, or maybe she came from a home that smelled that wonderful all the time...

Okay, he had to stop before he drifted off into daydreams of baking treats with Ladybug in her home, in a kitchen that curiously resembled Marinette's.

"Tikki, are you almost ready?" Ladybug asked after a minute of silence, broken only by muted munching. "Because I think I can hear the Intern."

Sure enough, muted roars were getting closer and closer. They became clearer after a few seconds, making Adrien guess that the akuma had probably entered the courtyard. They all held their breaths, waiting to see if the Intern would enter the library.

"I'll be ready in another minute," Ladybug's kwami whispered into the tense silence. "I just have to finish my cookie."

"Don't _rush_ me," Plagg whined from on top of Adrien's head a second later. "I'm enjoying my cheese."

" _ENJOY IT FASTER!"_ three voices hissed in unison before a quick round of shushing went around the closet.

If things hadn't been so tense, Adrien would have been tempted to let out a decidedly uncool giggle. What were the chances of all three of them speaking at once?

"The Intern is getting further away, I think," Ladybug whispered after a few further moments of quiet. "Her voice was getting quieter before it stopped. I bet she left the school."

Adrien only nodded, knowing that as close as she was, Ladybug would be able to feel it. He closed his eyes again as she shifted anxiously, letting himself enjoy these last few moments he had with her outside the suit. They didn't get to do this often, just stand next to each other and _breathe_ , and getting to be together outside the suit? Pppft, _that_ never happened. So really, who could blame him for hugging Ladybug a little tighter and enjoying the feel of her silky-soft hair against his face and the feeling of her breath against his shoulder?

No one, that was who.

Voices in the library made them both jump back and for a moment, Adrien mourned the loss of Ladybug's body next to his. The next second, he was scrambling forward to catch Ladybug after a _thud_ and quiet grumble alerted him to the fact that Ladybug had startled straight back into the shelving. He caught her elbows and pulled her close to him again as they both strained to hear the voices.

"We need to transform," Ladybug whispered as the voices got closer. "Tikki?"

"I'm ready," her kwami replied immediately in the same hushed voice. "And Plagg is too, don't listen to him if he says he needs more cheese."

Adrien let his hands slide down Ladybug's arms to squeeze her hands. "Ready?"

"Don't forget to close your eyes," Ladybug replied, but she didn't let go of him. "On three?"

"Right." Nervous, Adrien squeezed his eyes shut. It would have been better to turn away from each other to transform, surely, just to reduce the temptation to peek (and that temptation was _strong,_ but he wasn't going to disrespect his Lady like that), but with the voices getting ever closer they couldn't risk the time it would take. The voices were students, he was sure, and surely didn't mean any harm, but if they happened to check the closet, they...

...well, actually, they would just find two collège aged students in very close quarters, which wasn't reason for immediate suspicion, but then he and Ladybug wouldn't be able to avoid seeing each other without acting really weird. Besides, if the students recognized him, it would inevitably get back to Nino and Alya (and Marinette, by extension), and he _really_ didn't want to face that line of questioning, especially considering that he had last texted Nino that he was safely cloistered at home, far away from any rampaging akumas.

"One..."

The voices were almost right outside the closet. They were incredibly familiar, but Adrien couldn't place them with the nerves flaring up in his stomach.

"Two..."

Ladybug's voice had grown quiet, barely above a whisper.

"...three! _Transform me!_ "

In unison, pink and green light lit up the small closet. Adrien squeezed his eyes shut against the light, though it didn't help much. The clashing colors lit up his eyelids for a long second before dying back down. He blinked his eyes open once he felt Ladybug shifting away to reach for the door handle. She pushed it open, and they met the wide-eyed stare of Alya and Nino as they stood right outside the closet, clearly about to grab the door handle themselves.

Well, it was _definitely_ a good thing that they had been able to transform.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir!" Alya exclaimed, taking a respectful step back. "We didn't realize that you were here! We were just looking for some classmates of ours that went missing near the start of the attack."

"I'm sure they'll show up," Ladybug said, though Chat Noir could detect a nervous hint to her voice. "Uh, did you happen to notice which way the Intern went? Chat Noir and I had to lose her to recharge."

"Whoa, they were _detransformed?_ " Alya said in a breathy voice before she shook off her sudden starry-eyed daze. Chat Noir had to suppress a chuckle- Alya probably was wishing that she had opened the closet door a minute sooner. "Yeah, the Intern headed for the Eiffel Tower. I think she wanted to increase the size of her army, but most people are hiding inside now until she gets defeated."

"That's good advice. You should stay hidden as well," Ladybug said, heading for the library's exit. "The Intern's army doesn't need to get any larger. She'll be hard enough to fight as it is."

"We'll stay out of it," Nino promised, ignoring Alya's crestfallen expression. "Alya might want an interview later, though, to make up for missing the fight."

"We can do that!" Chat Noir called over his shoulder and he followed Ladybug out through the maze of bookshelves. "Maybe sometime this weekend would work?"

He only got a glance of Alya's face-splitting grin before the door closed behind them.

* * *

"I've never seen _both_ Ladybug and Chat Noir have to recharge in the middle of a fight before," Alya said later that afternoon as she told Marinette and Adrien about what had happened in the library as the four of them headed back to class. She was a bit sad about missing the end of the fight with the Intern ("I heard it was _epic!"_ ) but the excitement over seeing Ladybug and Chat Noir- and coming so close to running into them in their civilian identities- completely made up for the letdown. "But do you know what that proves? They totally know who each other's identities are!"

"Al _yaaaa_..." Marinette sighed at the same time Adrien subtly rolled his eyes. _Know each other's identities? Hah._ "They still might not. I mean, who's to say they looked?"

"It would be _inconvenient_ not to look," Alya argued. "And do you know what else that suggests?"

Adrien grinned at Marinette's mumbled " _No, but I'm sure you'll tell us_ ". His friend was _hilarious_ when she wasn't busy being nervous around him.

"I bet that they're dating in real life! I mean, that closet was _tiny._ They would have had to be standing really close together, and if you're going to be that close, you have to be _really_ comfortable with each other. They've probably been dating _forever_."

Adrien barely restrained his snort. _I wish_.

"Besides, there's _so_ much evidence in their interactions that tells me that they're dating. Trust me, I'm a romance _expert,_ " Alya insisted when both Adrien and Marinette (and, to some degree, Nino) looked unconvinced. "Rose agreed with me. And, to prove it to you, I'll ask them when I interview them this weekend! They'll say yes, I'm sure of it."

Adrien sincerely doubted it.

"But enough about that!" Nino exclaimed before Alya could say anything else. "I'm just glad to see you two are safe! A bunch of people went missing during the Intern's attacks and then when we couldn't get a hold of either of you during the attack! We were really worried."

Adrien blinked, confused. He, of course, had a reason for not answering his phone during attacks, but Marinette? She should have been safely at home. He hadn't noticed her among the ranks of the Intern's army, either during the fight or afterwards. So what had she been doing?

"I was, ah, busy with my homework," Marinette claimed immediately, blue eyes going innocently wide. "I got a little behind earlier this week when I was working on a design and, y'know, it took a lot of time, and so I figured that if I didn't want to get in trouble I should take advantage of the time off from classes and get some stuff done."

Alya raised a suspicious eyebrow. "And you didn't check your phone at all?"

Marinette giggled. It sounded a little high-pitched, but maybe Adrien was just hearing things. "I'm not _you_ , Alya. I'm hardly married to my phone. It was in my bag and I forgot about it."

"Hmm." Alya didn't look totally convinced, but still she left Marinette along and turned on Adrien instead. "And you, Agreste? Did you have your phone off as well?"

"Err..." Actually, that _had_ been the excuse Adrien was going to go for, but he doubted Alya would accept that now. "No, I was listening to some online tutorials that my Chinese teacher assigned me. He wants me to work on my pronunciation."

Alya rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Nerds, both of you. At least you're safe. We were worried." She whirled around in front of their group, stopping them. "In fact, I was so worried that I demand a group hug. C'mon, all of you."

Adrien grinned as they all came together. The hug was hardly comfortable- it was a few too many people all together and too many different heights, plus Nino's elbow was digging into his side- but it was still nice. Marinette was tucked under his left arm up against his side, pink-cheeked and adorable as she smiled up at him. She smelled strangely familiar, like baked treats and fresh bread, but Adrien supposed that that was hardly a surprise considering where she lived. Still, the smell seemed even more familiar than that, like he had smelled it just recently even though he hadn't been to the bakery for a while. The scent tickled something in the back of his mind, something important that he really _should_ remember.

 _So where had he smelled that exact same scent before?_

* * *

 _ **A/N:** So this is the end of this story/series of drabbles. I hope you enjoyed them (even if it was frustrating watching two idiots being oblivious)! Please review, it makes my day :)_ **  
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